What should I do with a 256mb and a 512mb flash drive?

[user1397]

I have a 256mb flash drive and a 512mb, both of which were gifts from a long time ago. I can't put an ubuntu live cd on them, and I have a spare 8gb flash drive to transfer files from computer to computer.

So is there any practical use for these or should they go into the trash...? (I'd rather not do that, flash memory sticks are a terrible thing to waste...)

[Verbeck]

lock your computer with it?
i did that once in windows, dunno how its done in ubuntu

or give it to someone else?

[philinux]

I have a 256mb flash drive and a 512mb, both of which were gifts from a long time ago. I can't put an ubuntu live cd on them, and a have a spare 8gb flash drive to transfer files from computer to computer.

So is there any practical use for these or should they go into the trash...? (I'd rather not do that, flash memory sticks are a terrible thing to waste...)

You could put dban on one and supergrub on the other I suppose.

[TNT1]

I have a working 64Mb flash drive. Can I do anything that?

[Sean Moran]

Keep all the stuff you ever did between 1980 and 1998 on little one, and save the 512 to hide all the good porn pics on. 9-).

[Macfunky]

I have a 512mb flash drive that i was trying to figure out what to do with as well. In the end i put puppy linux on it and keep it in my netbook case just in case anything ever did go terribly wrong with my installation and i needed to retrieve stuff from the netbook. I back up stuff and have never had to do anything like that but it may come in handy one day as i can't see any other use for it.

[pricetech]

Do you do any work on Windows boxen ?? Windows 7 based WinPE only takes up a little over 100 megs.

That's what I'd do with them if they were mine.

I have an old 128 that's been gathering dust that I really should do something with come to think of it.

[CharlesA]

I've got an old PNY 128MB pen drive (literally a pen.. (http://www.pny.com/products/flash/execattache.asp)) that I use for nothing in particular, mostly resumes and stuff.

[MasterNetra]

They should still be good for storing documents & pictures on them. You could use the 256 for documents and pictures, the 512 could be used to store a music CD worth of your favorite music. Or you like philinux suggests you could put Dban on the 512 and supergrub on the other, or any combo there of. But yea would be a waste to just toss them. There still good for storage just not for massive amounts (well I suppose you could still store massive amounts of documents as well jpegs and pngs (pending the size of each of course).


I have a working 64Mb flash drive. Can I do anything that?

Storage for Documents and small file-sized images.

[KegHead]

Wow!

I have a 64 mb visiontek..can it be recycled?

KegHead

[ugm6hr]

Anything but put in trash...
They can definitely be used in medical devices. e.g. to download digital ECGs etc.
I use a 256MB stick to run a FreeNAS server from (with the whole HD for storage). The entire server is a recycled computer...

[eriktheblu]

lock your computer with it?
i did that once in windows, dunno how its done in ubuntu

Mount it as /boot, move Grub over from the HDD and set the BIOS to boot USB first.

Other options: Puppy, Super Grub Disk, Gparted live disk.

[KegHead]

Hi!

I actually found a 32mb flash drive in my desk.

KegHead

[pricetech]

Is this turning into the "Who's got the smallest thumbdrive" thread ??

[MasterNetra]

Is this turning into the "Who's got the smallest thumbdrive" thread ??

I think I still have a floppy somewhere...

[snowpine]

SliTaz will fit easily on a 64mb device. Nice little distro!

[mcduck]

GeeXboX only takes about 20MB, so either one of the drives is large enough to create your own portable mediacenter-on-a-usb-stick. :)

http://www.geexbox.org/

[KegHead]

Hi!

What's the smallest distro?

I'd like to get some life out of my 32mb thunb drive.

KegHead

[forrestcupp]

Plug it into a Vista computer to "speed up Windows". ;)

[juancarlospaco]

Give it to me.

[mcduck]

Hi!

What's the smallest distro?

I'd like to get some life out of my 32mb thunb drive.

KegHead

SliTaz takes only 30MB, and is actually very nice.

http://www.slitaz.org/en/

[The Real Dave]

Make a DeadDrop (http://www.instructables.com/id/USB-Dead-Drops/)


Either that or do like I did and make a 128Mb USB into a Clonezilla and DSL pendrive. It's on my keys 24/7, and has proved very useful :)

[KegHead]

Hi!

I'll try slitaz on my 32mb and run it on my mini 9


KegHead

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

I have a 512MB flash drive that I use to record all the commands I use while installing and configuring a distro. The files are labeled computer_distro_release; such as, Lenovo_Ubutnu_64bit_10.04, ToshibaNB305_ContOS_32bit_5.5,... When I install drivers, codecs, applications, conky, etc., I copy and past the commands to the appropriate file. I also paste the contents of conky, sudoers, etc., files to it. Each file is less than 100KB. It is nice to have, because, I have 6 computers of various hardware configurations with multiple distros on them. I also have some wallpaper and skydome images on it. The actual OS or distro is on a CD, DVD, or USB.

[sidzen]

Send some jpegs and a text file to a friend or family member on it and let them decide what to do with it!

[98cwitr]

bootable version of DSL?

[corrytonapple]

I wonder if you could use them as external USB RAM for an old computer? I know our old iMac G3 has 128MB RAM and could use an upgrade. Yes, it is possible to use it.

[MasterNetra]

I wonder if you could use them as external USB RAM for an old computer? I know our old iMac G3 has 128MB RAM and could use an upgrade. Yes, it is possible to use it.

It wouldn't actually be "Ram" but rather swap. But yea you can format it to linux swap.

[Oxwivi]

A minimal Ubuntu install with basic X packages. Some light-weight softwares and it's good to go.

Or simply Damn Small Linux.

[MrJLBrown]

Darn, a few people have already said Puppy, DSL and SliTaz. There's MyWolfe-20, which is built from woof puppy linux builder. I will preach on the highest mountain, though, that Puppy 5.1.1 is a sleek and efficient OS to use on the 512mb, and makes the most out of what some consider very little. Besides, the most important thing you can ever do on a computer is boot into a stable environment, so it does wonders for me when I mess up my tweaks in Ubuntu. Heck, in the last month I haven't really had an OS on my hard drive at all.

Something I almost forgot was if you're your family's computer guru, you can install recovery tools, anti-virus, malwarebytes and spybot on a drive and use it to bring their ******* back to life like I have to every two months.... I keep telling them not to open attachments from people they don't know.

[KegHead]

Hi!

I tried dsl & tc on a 64mb stick w/no success.

Any thoughts?

KegHead

[The Real Dave]

I have a 512MB flash drive that I use to record all the commands I use while installing and configuring a distro. The files are labeled computer_distro_release; such as, Lenovo_Ubutnu_64bit_10.04, ToshibaNB305_ContOS_32bit_5.5,... When I install drivers, codecs, applications, conky, etc., I copy and past the commands to the appropriate file. I also paste the contents of conky, sudoers, etc., files to it. Each file is less than 100KB. It is nice to have, because, I have 6 computers of various hardware configurations with multiple distros on them. I also have some wallpaper and skydome images on it. The actual OS or distro is on a CD, DVD, or USB.

My God, what a brilliant idea :)